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Arne Slot declared he had to “examine my own performance” following the Reds suffered a 6th loss in 7 Premier League games at home to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a way from the title holders' poor run.

Forest, fighting against the drop before kick off, delivered the biggest victory at Liverpool's stadium in their history as Liverpool fell to an 8th defeat in eleven matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again anonymous and Liverpool argued the defender's first goal ought to have been disallowed for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City prior to the national team pause. But the manager admitted the responsibility rested with him and made no excuses.

“No one wants to hear me now talking about refereeing decisions if you lose 3-0 in your own stadium to Nottingham Forest,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I ought to examine my own role first and my squad, but it demonstrates you how a goal can change the flow of a game. Earlier I was just hoping for us to score a goal. Later we hardly created any chances.

“Of course there is a way out, especially with the quality players we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always thinking: ‘In which areas can we do better, where can we make changes?’ but that is something else from questioning yourself.

“I want to emphasise I am accountable for the current defeats. You are answerable when you are winning but also responsible when you are losing. I can not come up with enough excuses for us to have the outcomes we have. That is far from good enough and I am to blame for that.”

The team's display fell apart as the coach made several attacking changes when pursuing the game. “It was the identical on the road at Forest last season,” he said. “I substituted Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] out and brought on the Portuguese forward and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. At that time it was brave, currently it’s likely unwise.”

Liverpool previously were defeated in back-to-back at Anfield league fixtures against Forest in 1963. The last time they suffered consecutive league matches by a three-goal margin was in 1965.

The manager commented: “It was extremely poor. Competing at home, losing 3-0 regardless of which opponent you encounter is a terrible outcome. Surprising if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the game. I haven’t seen us creating so much in the initial 30 minutes maybe the entire campaign, and the initial occasion they entered in our box they found the back of the net.

“It did not happen at City, but in every other game we have been the dominant side and were capable to create opportunities. Lately it is nearly consistently that we fail to convert our opportunities and the ones we concede find the net.”